Slicer commodity retainer

ABSTRACT

Improved commodity retainer means are provided in a slicing machine of the type having a commodity feed hopper reciprocable relative to a slicing blade. The preferred retainer means include a commodity guide means such as a flat plate positionable adjacent to the commodity in the hopper and movable in the direction of feed. Tine means are mounted on the guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the direction of feed and for linear penetration toward the center of mass of the commodity. The tine means include selective locking means for locking the tine means in a selected rotational position.

United States Patent Assignee inventor Edward C. Karp Belvidere, 111.

Feb. 1. 1968 Feb. 9, 1971 Sanitary Scale Company Belvidere, III.

a corporation oi Illinois Appl. No. Filed Patented SLlCER COMMODITY RETAINER 12 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

11.8. C1 146/217, 1 146/ 102 Int. Cl B23d 45/18 Field of Swrch 146/217,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1912 Luschka 2,822,01 1 2/1958 Lundell 146/102.7UX FOREIGN PATENTS 416,925 11/1910 France 146/217 112,122 10/1917 Great Britain Primary Examiner-Andrew R. .luhasz Assistant Examiner-Z. R. Bilensky Attorney-Hume, Clement, Hume and Lee ABSTRACT: Improved commodity retainer means are provided in a slicing machine of the type having a commodity feed hopper reciprocable relative to a slicing blade. The preferred retainer means include a commodity guide means such as a flat plate positionable adjacent to the commodity in the hopper and movable in the direction of feed. Tine means are mounted on the guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the direction of feed and for linear penetration toward the center of mass of the commodity. The tine means include selective locking means for locking the tine means in a selected rotational position.

SLICER COMMODITY RETAINER The present invention relates to improvements in the art of slicing commodities, and more specifically to a slicing machine incorporating improved commodity retainer means.

Slicing machines, used primarily for the slicing of food, have long been known. Basically, these devices comprise a rotatable, circular slicing blade and hopper means adapted to feed a commodity toward the blade and mounted for reciprocating movement relative to the blade. Of course, it makes no difference whether the hopper means or the blade is reciprocated, although most devices employ a stationery blade with a reciprocating hopper means.

The hopper is usually of V-shaped cross section and inclined to feed the commodity being sliced downwardly toward the blade. Commodity guide means are provided to feed the commodity toward the blade while keeping transverse and rotational movement to a minimum. These means are usually mounted on the hopper for linear movement toward the blade in the same direction as the commodity.

With modern, high-speed slicing machines, the guide means heretofore employed have been insufficient to prevent lateral and/or rotational movement of the commodity as it is being sliced, permitting the production of nonuniform slices. Various attempts have been made to solve this problem. For example, crescent-shaped fhooks" have been employed on the guide means to hook into the commodity and hold it as it is fed toward the blade. However, these resulted in tearing of the commodity, while they were not very efficient in preventing lateral or rotational movement. Guide means have also been provided which are adjustable to the shape and size of the commodity being sliced, thus providing better retention. Such devices are relatively complicated, however, and of limited versatility. Furthermore, these devices often do not provide sufficient retention.

Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide in a slicing machine an improved commodity retainer that is easy to operate, while permitting aminimum of transverse and/or rotational movement of a commodity as it is being sliced.

Generally, the present invention comprises an improvement in slicing machines of the type having a hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, wherein the hopper means is adapted to feed a commodity in a given direction, toward the slicing blade. The improvement is basically commodity retainer means including commodity guide means mounted on the hopper means for linear movement toward and away from the slicing blade, parallel to the movement of the commodity. The guide means are also positionable adjacent to the commodity in the hopper as it is fed toward the blade, and include tine means mounted on the guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement of the commodity toward the blade. The tine means are positioned to permit linear penetration toward the center of the mass of commodity being sliced, and have selective locking means for locking the tine means in a selected rotational position.

The invention, both as to its construction and method of operation, together with the objects and advantages thereof, will be best appreciated from the following detailed descrip tion taken together with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a slicing machine partially cutaway to illustrate the preferred embodiment of the present invention; i

FIG. 2 is an end view of the hopper, showing the preferred .embodiment of the present invention in penetrating relationship with a relatively small, cylindrical commodity;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the hopper, showing the preferred embodiment of the present invention in penetrating relationship with a relatively large, cylindrical commodity, and also showing the device in its rest position;

FIG. 4 is an end view of the hopper assembly showing the device of the present invention in penetrating relationship with a commodity of generally rectangular cross section;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the selective locking mechanism employed in the preferred embodiment, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view of the device as shown in FIG. 5, but in an unlocked position;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the tine means of the present invention, taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the locking means of the present invention takcn'along line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIG. I, there is illustrated a slicing machine incorporating the features of the present invention, and generally indicated by reference [numeral I0. Basically, the device includes a base frame I2 carrying a circular, rotatu ble slicing knife 14 in close spaced relationship with a slicing template 16, the space between the knife 14 and the template l6 determining the thickness of the slices. Adjacent to the knife I4 is a hopper 18 adapted to feed a commodity 20, such as a cylindrical piece of sausage, toward the knife I4. The hopper I8 is mounted on a hopper bracket 22, which, in turn, is fixedly attached to a mounting plate 24 by a large knob 26. The mounting plate 24 is slidably mounted on an upper, horizontal shaft 28 and a lower, parallel horizontal shaft (not shown) carried by the base frame 12. Ilt is thus seen that the hopper 18 may be horizontally reciprocated past the exposed portion of the slicing knife 14 while a commodity is fed into the knife 14. The hopper 18 is inclined toward the knife] 4 to aid in feeding the commodity 20. The: slicing machine illustrated incorporates a motorized drive module 30 for automatic operation, although the improvement of the present invention is equally applicable to manual slicing machines.

Referring more specifically to the improvement of the present invention, there is provided a commodity retainer assembly, generally indicated by reference numeral 40, including a commodity guide plate 42 slidably mounted on a bar 44. The bar 44 is mounted on the hopper l8, and runs parallel to an upper edge. The bar 44 runs the entire length of the hopper 18, allowing movement of the guide plate 42 from the lower end of the hopper 18, adjacent to the knife 14, to the upper end of the hopper 18. The commodity retainer assembly 40 is also rotatable about the bar 44 in an axis perpendicular to its direction of linear movement along the bar 44. The guide plate 42 carries fork or tine means 46 mounted for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement of the commodity 20 toward the blade 14. The direction of this rotational movement is indicated by the arrows 48. The tine means 46 are rotated by grasping a tine knob 50, which includes a central pushbutton 52. The pushbutton 52 unlocks the tine means 46 for rotation when it is pressed, but locks them in position when released. Thus, the tine means 46 can be rotated to any selected position by depressing the pushbutton 52 and rotating the knob 50, and locked in that position simply by releasing the pushbutton 52.

As shown best in FIGS. 3-5, the commodity guide plate 42 preferably incorporates rotation-limiting or stop means for limiting the rotational movement of the guide plate 42. The stop means include a notch 54 that engages a stop bar 56 located on the hopper 18 parallel to the rod 44. The stop bar 56 preferably extends for the major portion of the length of the hopper 18 adjacent to the slicing knife I4. but does not extend to a small portion of the hopper l8 farthest from the knife 14. Thus, for the major portion of the hopper I8 closest to the knife 14, the commodity retainer assembly 40 may be rotated between an operating position and a rest position 40', as shown in FIG. 3. However, at an upper portion of the hopper 18, the retainer assembly 40 may be more fully rotated to a storage position 4Q" as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, during use, the device may be conveniently rotated to a rest position, shown at 40' in FIG. 3, along the major portion of the length of the hopper l8 closest to the knife I4. Since the retainer assembly 40 has been rotated between its normal operating position and a rest position slightly beyond the vertical, it will be retained in the rest position 40' by the force of gravity.

Referring again to FIG. I, when the commodity retainer assembly 40 is at the portion of the bar 44 beyond the end of the stop bar 56, it may be fully rotated to a storage position as shown in FIG. I at 40". In the rest position, the commodity guide plate 42 rests against a retainer assembly storage bracket 58. Because the tine means 46 are fully rotatable and selectively lockable, they may be locked in a position, indicated at 46', parallel to the guide plate 42. Because they are locked in such a position, where the tine means do not protrude, maximum safety to personnel is achieved.

Referring again to FIGS. 2-4, the tine means 46 are adapted to linearly penetrate commodities 20 of varying sizes and shapes. Where possible, the tine means 46 should be directed toward the center of mass of the commodity 20 in order to provide maximum stability and retention during the slicing operation. As seen by a comparison of FIGS. 2 and 3,

the device may be employed with equal facility to retain a commodity of a relatively small diameter (FIG. 2) or of a relatively large diameter (FIG. 3). The tine means 46 also provide excellent retention when penetrating a .commodity having a cross-sectional shape other than circular, such as the commodity of rectangular cross section shown in FIG. 4.

Although virtually any selective locking means may be employed in the present invention to lock the tine means 46 in a selected rotational position, the preferred arrangement is a splined locking assembly as illustrated in FIGS. 5-8. As Sht -wn in FIG. 5, the commodity guide plate 42 has cast thereon a circular, elevated portion 70 which maintains the tine means 46 in spaced relation to the guide plate 42. Fixedly mounted in the guide plate 42, and projecting perpendicularly from the center of the elevated portion 70 is a shaft 71. As shown in FIG. 7, the tine means 46 are mounted on the tine knob 50 by a pair of screws 72. The tine means 46 have a hole 74 at the center of rotation that fits rotatably over the shaft 71. Thus, when the knob 50 is rotated, the tine means 46 rotate along with it, kept from sliding off the shaft 71 by a circular abutment 76. The tine means 46 are maintained in spaced relationship from the elevated portion 70 of the guide plate 42 by a washer 78, facilitating free rotation.

As shown in FIG. 5, the pushbutton 52 protruded through an opening in the tine knob 50, and is normally held in the locked position shown by a spring 80 extending between the pushbutton 52 and the tine means 46. The pushbutton 52 is secured against rotational movement by a Woodruff key 82 mounted in the shaft 71, and penetrating a slot 33 on the interior of the pushbutton 52. The pushbutton 52 carries outwardly projecting splines 84 engageable with inwardly projecting splines 86 carried by the tine knob 50. The engageable splines 84, 86 are illustrated in FIG. 8, along with the engagement of the Woodruff key 82 with the slot 83.

As may be seen by a comparison of FIGS. 5 and 6, when the pushbutton 52 is depressed, the outwardly projecting splines 84 on the pushbutton 52 do not engage the inwardly projecting splines 86 on the interior of the tine knob 50. However, as shown in FIG. 5, when the pushbutton 52 is released, it will retain the tine knob 50, and thus the tine means 46, in a fixed rotational position.

In operation, a commodity such as a piece of meat to be sliced is placed on the hopper I3 as shown in FIG. 1. The commodity retainer assembly 40 is grasped by the tine knob 50 and rotated into a position above the commodity 20. The retainer assembly 40 is then moved along the bar 44 to a position such that the tine means 46 are above the end of the commodity farthest from the knife 12. The pushbutton 52 is depressed, freeing the tine means 46 for rotational movement. The tines are directed toward the center of mass of the commodity 2i), and the commodity guide plate 42 is lowered, permitting the tine means 46 to penetrate the commodity 20, preferably until the underside of the guide plate 42 rests on top of the commodity 20. At this point, the pushbutton 52 is released, locking the tine means 46 in position. The slicing machine 30 is now switched on, causing the knife 14 to rotate, and the hopper I3 is reciprocated, either manually or automatically, past the rotating slicing knife l4. The commodity 20 can be sliced in this manner until the retainer assembly has moved to its lowermost position on the hopper 18 adjacent the slicing knife. At this point, the cutting operation is halted. If it is desired to slice the remainder of the commodity 20. the tine means 46 are removed from the commodity 20 and rotated to a position parallel to the length of the guide plate 42 as shown in the storage position at 40". The guide plate 42 is then placed in a position behind the end of the commodity 20 in a conventional manner, and the remainder of the commodity 20 may be sliced. After the slicing is completed, the commodity retainer assembly 40 may be rotated to its rest position 40" (FIG. 3) and another commodity 20 inserted into the hopper I8. The above-described process is then repeated for each commodity 20 being sliced. Because the commodity 20 is securely gripped by the tine means 46, uniform slices will be obtained even at high speeds because of a minimum of transverse and rotational movement of the commodity 20.

After use of the slicing machine 10 has been completed, the commodity retainer assembly 40 may be moved to the upper end of the hopper 18 along the rod 44. At this position, the notch 54 will not engage the stop bar 56 and the retainer assembly 40 may be fully rotated to its storage position 40", where it rests against the retainer assembly storage bracket 58, In the storage position. as shown in FIG. I, it is preferred to rotate and lock the tine means 46 in a position parallel to the length of the guide plate 42 in order to minimize the danger of personnel being injured by protruding tines.

While the embodiments described herein are at present considered to be preferred, it will be understood that various modifications and improvements may be made therein and it is intended to cover in the appended claims all such modifications and improvements as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Iclaim:

1. In a commodity slicing machine having hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, said hopper means adapted to feed a commodity in a given direction toward said slicing blade, the improvement comprising: commodity guide means mounted on said hopper means for linear movement in said given direction, said guide means positionable adjacent to said commodity in said hopper; tine means mounted on said guide means for rotation in a place perpendicular to said given direction, said tine means positioned on said guide means to permit linear penetration toward the center of mass of said commodity; selective locking means including spline means engageable to lock said tine means in a selected rotational position.

2. The apparatus of claim I wherein said guide means comprise a flat plate mounted on said hopper for rotational movement in a plane perpendicular to said given direction.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said guide means is mounted for rotational movement between a rest position and a desired operating position.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said rest position is defined by stop means adapted to arrest said rotational movement at a position clear of said hopper.

5, The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said rest position is slightly beyond the vertical position reached when said guide means are rotated away from said commodity, and said guide means are retained in said rest position by the force of gravity.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said stop means are operative only on a segment of said hopper adjacent to said slicing blade, to permit rotational movement of said guide means between an operating position and a storage position when said guide means are moved away from said blade and beyond said segment.

7. In a commodity slicing machine having hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, said hopper means adapted to feed a commodity in a given direction toward said slicing blade, the improvement comprising: commodity guide means mounted on said hopper means for linear movement in said given direction, said guide means positionable adjacent to said commodity in said hopper; tine means mounted on said guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to said given direction, said tine means positioned on said guide means to pennit linear penetration toward the center of mass of said commodity; and selective locking means for locking said tine means in a selected rotational position, said selective locking means including a pushbutton centered approximately at the axis of rotation of said tine means, said pushbutton operatively connected to permit free rotation of said tine means when depressed and to lock said tine means when released.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said locking means include spline means engageable to prevent rotation of said tine means upon release of said pushbutton.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said tine means are rotatable to a safety position wherein said tine means are aligned with said guide means in a manner that avoids protrusion of said tine means beyond said guide means.

N). In a commodity slicing machinehaving hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, said hopper means adapted to feed a commodity in a given direction toward said slicing blade, the improvement comprising: commodity guide means mounted on said hopper means for linear movement in said given direction and for rotational movement in a plane perpendicular to said given direction between a rest position and an operating position adjacent to said commodity in said hopper, said rest position defined by stop means adapted to arrest said rotational movement at a position clear of said hopper, said rest position being slightly beyond the vertical position reached when said guide means are rotated away from said hopper: tine means mounted on said guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to said given direction, said tine means positioned on said guide means to permit linear penetration toward the center of mass of said commodity; and selective locking means for locking said tine means in a selected rotational position, said selective locking means including a pushbutton centered approximately at the axis of rotatiin of said tine means, said pushbutton operatively connected to permit free rotation of said tine means when depressed and to lock said tine means when released.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further including automatic drive means for reciprocating said hopper past said slicing blade.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said stop means are operative only on a segment of said hopper adjacent to said slicing blade to permit rotational movement of said guide means between an operating position and a storage position when said guide means are moved away from said blade and beyond said segment. 

1. In a commodity slicing machine having hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, said hopper means adApted to feed a commodity in a given direction toward said slicing blade, the improvement comprising: commodity guide means mounted on said hopper means for linear movement in said given direction, said guide means positionable adjacent to said commodity in said hopper; tine means mounted on said guide means for rotation in a place perpendicular to said given direction, said tine means positioned on said guide means to permit linear penetration toward the center of mass of said commodity; selective locking means including spline means engageable to lock said tine means in a selected rotational position.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said guide means comprise a flat plate mounted on said hopper for rotational movement in a plane perpendicular to said given direction.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said guide means is mounted for rotational movement between a rest position and a desired operating position.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said rest position is defined by stop means adapted to arrest said rotational movement at a position clear of said hopper.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said rest position is slightly beyond the vertical position reached when said guide means are rotated away from said commodity, and said guide means are retained in said rest position by the force of gravity.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said stop means are operative only on a segment of said hopper adjacent to said slicing blade, to permit rotational movement of said guide means between an operating position and a storage position when said guide means are moved away from said blade and beyond said segment.
 7. In a commodity slicing machine having hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, said hopper means adapted to feed a commodity in a given direction toward said slicing blade, the improvement comprising: commodity guide means mounted on said hopper means for linear movement in said given direction, said guide means positionable adjacent to said commodity in said hopper; tine means mounted on said guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to said given direction, said tine means positioned on said guide means to permit linear penetration toward the center of mass of said commodity; and selective locking means for locking said tine means in a selected rotational position, said selective locking means including a pushbutton centered approximately at the axis of rotation of said tine means, said pushbutton operatively connected to permit free rotation of said tine means when depressed and to lock said tine means when released.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said locking means include spline means engageable to prevent rotation of said tine means upon release of said pushbutton.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said tine means are rotatable to a safety position wherein said tine means are aligned with said guide means in a manner that avoids protrusion of said tine means beyond said guide means.
 10. In a commodity slicing machine having hopper means reciprocable relative to a slicing blade, said hopper means adapted to feed a commodity in a given direction toward said slicing blade, the improvement comprising: commodity guide means mounted on said hopper means for linear movement in said given direction and for rotational movement in a plane perpendicular to said given direction between a rest position and an operating position adjacent to said commodity in said hopper, said rest position defined by stop means adapted to arrest said rotational movement at a position clear of said hopper, said rest position being slightly beyond the vertical position reached when said guide means are rotated away from said hopper: tine means mounted on said guide means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to said given direction, said tine means positioned on said guide means to permit linear penetration toward the center of mass of said commodity; and selective locking means for locking said tine means in a selected rotAtional position, said selective locking means including a pushbutton centered approximately at the axis of rotatiin of said tine means, said pushbutton operatively connected to permit free rotation of said tine means when depressed and to lock said tine means when released.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10 further including automatic drive means for reciprocating said hopper past said slicing blade.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said stop means are operative only on a segment of said hopper adjacent to said slicing blade to permit rotational movement of said guide means between an operating position and a storage position when said guide means are moved away from said blade and beyond said segment. 